Between Now And Then
by mooncheese23
Summary: My version of season 4. When Zak gets his powers back, everything around him starts to come back together. Lives that were supposedly lost are discovered to be alive, and everything begins again. Make sure to read Ch. 12.
1. When The Smoke Clears

After Argost was gone, Kur with him, every one thought that was that. Zak was a normal kid again, some one who his parents would take away from the action. So while they went off and did their duties, he was left in the airship, bored to tears. Who would think, that one day he would be the one who was truly going to be in danger, when his parents only wanted him to be safe, away in the airship?

"Okay, let's go everyone." Doc ordered. "Zak, remember..."

"Yeah yeah, stay here in the airship, you've been telling me that since that day." Zak sighed. "I couldn't forget if I wanted to."

Even though he was thirteen now, his parents still treated him like an eleven year old. "Stay out of trouble," "It's too dangerous!" At least they stopped leaving him with Fiskerton. But Western Africa wasn't a very safe place for teenagers.

His parents, Fiskerton, and Komodo had all gone off to discover what was going on with the kikiyaon. Normally the giant owl would stay within the forest, but for some mysterious reason its attack rates have gone up, even sometimes leaving.

"Something must be forcing it out." Drew decided.

"Or it might be that less people are deciding to go out into the forest." Doc had argued.

And when Zak asked if he could go, the answer was just like every other. No. But that wasn't stopping him from wandering off anyways. "If they allowed me to go back when I had my powers, what is the difference going now, without my powers?"

Zak sighed. He continued walking, not caring how far he was going into the forest. Near the river, he saw a dingonek, and tried to use his powers. Nothing. So instead, Zak threw a stick at it. That might have been a bad idea, since then the jungle walrus glared over at him and threatened to attack. Zak just hurried along, getting deeper into the forest.

Finally he was lost. Lost in kikiyaon territory. Right where no one could find him, and some one wanted him.

"Hello there, Saturday brat." a fimilar voice called. Zak looked around. The kikiyaon hung over him in a tree, its eyes glowing green.

"No way." Zak muttered.

"Oh, yes way." Zak Monday walked out of the shadows of the trees. The owl swooped down and tried to grab Zak. He rolled out of the way, and ended up face down in the dirt in front of Zak M.

"I thought you were dead!" Zak exclaimed.

"Well I'm not." Zak M scoffed, and the kikiyaon tried to grab Zak again.

"How do you still have your powers? I thought Kur and Anti-Kur were destroyed."

"You thought wrong, then." Zak M sent the cryptid toward Zak again, who dodged and rolled in dirt and leaves. "Does this mean you forgot how to use your powers?"

"Powers?" Zak gaped. "I don't have powers any more! Kur was destroyed!"

"You thought I was dead, and I am alive. You thought Kur and Anti-Kur were gone, but they aren't. What you hear and see isn't the truth, and you hope so badly that your powers are gone, so you are going to die."

The kikiyaon swooped down, nearly grabbing Zak. "You know I wish my powers are gone, so why do you still want to kill me?"

"Because you sent me back to my world to hurt me. And, like I said before, I have to pay you back, since we're opposites." Zak M cackled. "If you want to live, just stop the kikiyaon, it's that simple."

"How do you expect me to do that?!" Zak yelled. He dived again, but then the owl turned and rushed toward him. Still recovering from dodging the last attack, he couldn't move. He just shut his eyes, and waited.

Nothing happened. He wasn't willing to open his eyes though, until Zak M shouted, "I knew it! You still have your powers, Kur!"

Zak opened his eyes, and the kikiyaon was there, flapping its wings in front of him. Its eyes were glowing orange now, and Zak soon discovered his eyes were too. Then he noticed the look Zak M had. "What, are you scared?"

"No!" Zak M lied. "Are you going to finish me off?"

"Nah." Zak released the owl. It did its call, and flew away. "I have to get back to the airship before my parents return from looking for that thing. Don't you get me into too much trouble."

"I won't." Zak M promised. Behind his back, his fingers were crossed. Zak was too busy to check, and didn't really care. He hurried off to the airship, without a thought about it.

"Hey Mini-man." Doyle was on the com screen.

"Hey Uncle Doyle. What are you doing?" Zak asked the transmission.

"Oh, the usual." Doyle replied. "Since the trail of Argost is cold and unneeded, I've decided it was time to get a job."

"So you're a cryptozoologist now?" Zak's eyes lit up.

"Yeah."

"Does that mean you've stop looking for Abbey Grey?" Zak questioned. Doyle moved his hands for Zak to be quiet.

"No, and leave it at that."

"Oh, hey there Doyle." Drew walked in. "Why didn't you just come in person?"

"My budget is tight." Doyle answered. "Transmission's cheap."

Komodo scampered in. Zak smiled. "Hey, you want to see something?"

"Sure."

Zak put his hand in front of Komodo and his eyes began to glow. Drew gasped. Komodo growled, and launched himself at the screen. It cracked, and the transmission went out.

"Looks like you got your powers back." Drew frowned, Zak smiled innocently. "And some one is going to be grounded for a while."


	2. Another Secret

In the ruins of Weird World, something stirred. Though it was simply Munya, he was there for a bigger reason.

Before, Weird World was the setting of the television show by the same name. Now, Argost was gone. Or was he? Farther in the mansion, something dug his way out of the rubble.

"No! It's gone! I can't believe it's gone!" he cried. "The power-- gone!"

"I thought you said Kur was gone." Doc watched Zak control Komodo.

"Well, I was wrong. About everything." Zak decided. His eyes were still glowing orange, and Komodo attacked the couch. "Zak Monday is alive, Kur is still around. Who knows, maybe Argost didn't implode."

"Hopefully no." Drew pointed out. "If he is, then everything we've tried, all that effort, it would've been in vain."

"No it wouldn't. We stopped him from taking over the world." Zak chirped. "But I thought I saw him implode, with the Kurs being the detonation. He couldn't be alive."

"You think that, but Kur is alive." Doc reminded. "What else could you have seen?"

"What about the shock waves that caused Weird World to collapse? They were the same colors as Kur and Anti-Kur." Drew remembered. "Maybe it wasn't an explosion. Maybe it was just the Kurs pulling out of Argost."

"But then Argost wouldn't be alive!" Zak acknowledged. "Oh, wait, they're not solids."

"And if it was just an implosion, we won't have to keep an even closer eye on you." Doc argued.

"Wait, why?!"

"Because there are some things we know for sure." Drew sighed.

"Oh, that..." Zak murmured.

"If Argost is alive and out there, he's sure to come after you again. This time, we're one man short. It would be better, if Argost is alive, to stop him before we have any more casualties."

"What if that just causes more?" Zak thought. Komodo went over to Fiskerton and stood on his back legs. The dragon hissed, and Fiskerton ran away, whining.

People from the town around Weird World who had seen the explosion walked up to the gate. The roof was sunken, and rubble surrounded the outside. Though they were able to see the explosion from so far away, they had not expected for the place to be in such a bad condition.

"Do you think anyone is alive in there?" one of the people asked, pushing open the gate.

"That's what I want to know!" another snapped. But only moments after they stepped onto the property did a creature roar at them. It rushed at them, causing them to run off, screaming.

"That's enough. They're gone." Argost sighed. He watched the people running away. "Hopefully that keeps them from trespassing for a while."

Then he turned and looked at his house. What was once an awe-striking monument to him was now a crumbling mess. "You have a lot of work to do, Munya."

The creature groaned. The shamirs had done most of the work, but the house was still in shambles. It was rubble stacked on rubble, being filled in second by second. Then he went to work on putting together the house, while Argost simply watched.


	3. The Return

Zak continued to practice his powers, still not used to having them back. Months had passed since he'd last faced Argost, which made it hard to believe the yeti was still alive. If he was alive, he would have announced it with episodes of _Weird World_, which he hadn't.

Zak sighed, and released the cryptid he had been controlling. It scurried away into the bushes. People nearby screamed.

"Zak, is something wrong?" Drew asked, even though he hadn't been acting weird. Except for releasing a shunka warakin.

"Nothing, Mom." Zak answered. He looked around. "You really think Tsul'Kalu is here?"

"Well, the local sightings say so." Drew sighed. More people were screaming. "Zak, what did you do?"

"I might have released a western dire wolf on some people."

The people screamed even more. "And why did you release a shunka warakin on the locals?"

"Hey, maybe it'll attract Tsul'Kalu." Zak pointed out.

"That is the most ridiculous thing you've ever said." Drew announced. But then Tsul'Kalu came flying over the bushes and the screaming increased. "I stand corrected. That was true, but that-- that was just weird. You can handle yourself, right?"

"What, why are you asking?" Zak wondered.

"Because you set it on the people, you're grounded. So you're not participating this time." Drew replied, to Zak's disappointment. She went over to join the big foot.

"Oh, come on!" Zak exclaimed. He used his Kur powers and brought several nearby cryptids together. "Well, at least that works."

When he released the cryptids though, he unconsciously caused them to go join the shunka warakin, which he didn't know until his mom called him.

"Zak! Get over here!"

"Oops." Zak apologized.

"'Oops' nothing! Just get them under control!" Drew shouted. She was fighting off the shunka warakin. Tsul'Kalu was fighting off some of the other cryptids.

"Okay, okay, don't start yelling about it."

Zak's eyes started glowing orange. The cryptids backed away. They all began to roar and squawk. "Zak, what are you doing?!" Drew exclaimed.

"I-I don't know what they're doing!" Zak stuttered. His eyes were still glowing.

"But aren't you controlling them?!"

The cryptids began to attack the people again, all with their eyes glowing orange. "Do you think I'd be doing this? Something's going on!"

"Just keep trying!"

"I can't!" Zak cried. Suddenly the cryptids went crazy.

"Then maybe it's time you stop!"

"You think I'm not trying?!" Zak moaned. "What are you talking about?"

"Zak, who are you talking to?" Drew asked. He didn't seem to hear her.

"What are you talking about, trespassers? The people?" Zak asked. "_Not_ the people? Then who..."

"Zak, what's wrong?" Drew pestered. Zak was listening intently, but not to her.

"_Not_ the people, so **what**?" Zak repeated. Then he figured it out. "Is it another cryptid? Which one?"

All the cryptids were growling, squawking, and roaring. "Very good." a familiar someone clapped. "You've figured out that much."

"Oh no, you really are alive?" Zak exclaimed. The animals roared.

"Zak?" Drew called. He still didn't hear her.

"Greetings and bienvenue, world." Argost stepped out. "I'm back!"

"Argost..." Zak didn't hear his mom murmur the yeti's name. He didn't hear anything she said.

"Why do you always say 'bienvenue'? Are we walking into your house or something?" Zak wondered.

"Oh, it may not make sense today, but one day, it will." Argost cackled.

"Argost," Drew mumbled. "How much bloodshed will it take for you to give up?"

"As much as you want, to bring at me, that is. Kur or not, the world will be mine."

"Not likely." Zak's eyes glowed, and the cryptids rose. Argost smiled.

"You're are becoming more and more Kur. Is destroying some one the way you go?"

Zak released the cryptids. "Zak, what are you doing?" Drew questioned.

"If you kill some one, you're just as bad as that person, remember? Killing Argost would be just like killing all those people." Zak pointed out. "Argost may be horrible, but it's still killing."

"You'll wish that you did the other choice soon." Argost laughed, and left.


	4. Baby Sitting and Kur

Things were simmering down, and that was just when Argost decided to flash his face back onto television. Zak felt nauseous watching as Argost pranced in front of cameras, then startled the people just by looking at them, to make them drop their cameras. He wasn't afraid of the people seeing his real face. It just helped him receive more attention, and get publicity for his show.

Zak pressed the television back off. It hadn't bothered him in the beginning, when Argost being alive was just a possibility. But now that possibility was a fact, and he was in trouble. If the events that had happened in the last few months repeated, all they could do was hope what they could do was enough. And if it wasn't, nothing would be able to stop what Argost would do.

It was almost midnight, way past time to go to sleep. Zak sighed, and walked to his room. So far, Argost had not played out any attacks. No one knew why, since a building had once again started towering over everything else, just like it had many years before.

When Zak finally went to sleep, he stopped thinking about it. Instead, his dreams were haunted by it. They all had him fighting Argost, and losing. Then he'd wake up and stay up until he could not keep himself awake. And the process repeated until it was morning.

_"Zak, are you sure you want to do this?" his mom asked. "Last time we came here, we lost you for three minutes."_

_"That was then. Argost is just a yeti now." Zak answered, and she sighed. "It's going to be fine."_

_"I'm not sure I trust you with my life." Ulraj pointed out._

_"You don't have to trust me with your _**life**_."_

_"Okay, can we just get on with this?" Drew broke up the fight Zak and Ulraj had just started._

_"Greetings and bienvenue." Argost greeted them when they entered. "And why have you come to my abode?"_

Zak was thrashing around on his bed, acting out what he was doing in his dream. But when he woke up, he was still halfway in his dream. The door was creaking open, and by the time he figured out who was opening it, he'd thrown his pillow at them.

"What the heck, Mini-Man?" the person shouted. Just then Zak realized that it was just Doyle.

"Oh, hey Uncle Doyle." Zak laughed sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm suppose to baby-sit you while your parents are out."

"What?! But I'm thirteen now! I'm old enough to take care of myself!" Zak complained. "Does any one trust me anymore?"

"Yeah, but we don't trust Argost to sit around forever." Doyle replied, causing Zak to pout.

"Don't you have anything else to do besides watching me?" Zak teased. "Like tracking down Abbey?"

"Is that the only thing you can ever talk about?!" Doyle wondered.

"Maybe." Zak giggled.

"Stop talking, then."

"What? Whenever you're around and messing with a mobile video phone, you say it's about a cryptid. But when I look over, it's actually a tracker."

"You're looking at my phone?" Doyle snapped. "You little creep--"

"Hi Fisk." Zak waved at the lemurian in the doorway. Doyle looked at them both. "Well my parents don't trust _you_ enough. My last babysitter ended up turning evil."

"That's good. I was just about to punch your face."

Now it was Zak's turn to stare. Fiskerton scolded Doyle, who didn't seem to care. "Oh, you're still mad at me for keeping Argost alive."

"Of course I'm mad about it! If he was dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation, and Van Rook would be alive!"

"I got an idea." Zak exclaimed. "I'm calling my mom."

"Why?" Doyle wondered.

"To have her make sure I never get left alone with you until you cool down."

"Does that mean you want me to leave? Because I am!"

"Okay! Say hi to Abbey for me when you find her!!" Zak waved.


	5. The Komodo of Australia

"Did you ever think that Doyle is becoming a clone of Van Rook?" Zak asked.

"No, now don't mention _him_ again." Drew frowned. "Or your grounding is extended."

"If I'm grounded, then why am I still outside?" Zak wondered.

"Because if we leave you inside, Argost may attack while we're not looking. That is what we're trying not to let happen."

The airship began to shake. "Wh-what's going on? Argost?"

"No, Beeman." Doc answered.

Beeman's voice went over the intercom. "I thought you said Kur was gone. According to the tv, you've been terrorizing locals with cryptid attacks."

"Hey, that's not my fault. I'm naturally evil." Zak spoke back.

"Don't repeat what we already know, Dragon breath."

"My breath stinks?" Zak intrigued. Beeman's ship rammed the airship again. "Why do you have to keep doing that?"

"Your engine's down."

Smoke was streaming out of the front of the airship. "That was your fault!" Zak yelled.

"We're going down!" Drew shouted.

The next thing he knew he was in a tree, unconscious. His parents were calling him not too far away. By the time he regained consciousness though, he was more injured than when he had been in the tree. Now he was conscious, laying on the ground.

"Um, where are we?" Zak rubbed his head. "This place feels familiar."

"We're in Australia." Doc noted.

"And the airship?"

"Well, we're not going anywhere very soon." Drew answered. "But that doesn't mean your not grounded."

"Great..." Zak groaned.

"Fiskerton, keep an eye on Zak. And don't let him go off, whatever he tells you."

Fiskerton mumbled something and put his hand on his forehead. "Okay, let's go!" Zak pestered. Fiskerton mumbled his disagreement. "Oh come on! We're in Australia, how much danger could there possibly be?"

Fiskerton mumbled about how he wasn't allowed to let Zak run off. He reminded Zak about what happened last time they were in Australia.

"Nothing's going to happen." Zak assured. Then he began to walk off, with Fiskerton reluctantly followed.

"Okay, so I was wrong." Zak sighed, realizing they were now lost. Birds were calling out to each other, and it was almost sundown. "And this does not look like anyone has been here for a while." Something stirred in the undergrowth. "Hey Fisk, do you get the feeling we're being watched?"

Fiskerton shook his head, though he could tell something was lurking nearby. The rustling followed as they unknowingly walked in circles, until a silhouette of a large lizard stood in the path.

"Komodo?" Zak wondered. But as he approached, he discovered that it wasn't Komodo, but an even _larger_ lizard, almost blocking the whole path. "That is one big lizard..."

The lizard hissed, which slowly fade into a growl. "Okay, good lizard, I'm not trying to hurt you." Either it didn't understand this or it didn't care, the creature hissed and snapped at Zak. "Okay, I think we should get going."

Every step away Zak took, though, the lizard followed. Eventually he came running in to the clearing made by the airship with it chasing after. "Zak, why did you run off?" Drew was mostly concerned about him running off, until she noticed the giant komodo dragon following after him. "And there's another reason why you weren't suppose to run off."

Fiskerton scolded Zak when he stopped running, but he received the same upbraid for letting him run off. Komodo went up to the other lizard and hissed. It replied the same way. "Komodo, get away from that! It's big enough to eat you."

Suddenly the larger lizard backed away, with its eyes glowing orange. "Good giant cannibal lizard." Zak soothed. "You don't want to eat Komodo, do you?"

Fiskerton laughed at that remark, to which Komodo hissed. Zak stopped controlling the lizard and held out his hand toward the creature, which frightened his mom. "Zak, stay away from it! Wasn't it chasing you before?"

"Well Zon carried me away, then she was part of the family." Zak stroked the lizard's head, which did not seem to bother it. "Oh, and it's a she."

Of course, Komodo didn't care. He hissed and head-butted the other lizard. "We are not keeping a megalania." Doc walked out from where he was repairing the engine. "We already have one giant lizard, and that's enough."

"I didn't ask if we could keep her." Zak matter-of-factly pointed out. The megalania ignored Komodo and was now licking Zak's hand. "But she does seem to like me."

"Yes, I see that. Either way, the airship's repaired, so we can get going. But first, you have to get rid of your new friend."

"Got it." Zak's eye began to glow orange, and the megalania nodded. Then she scurried off into the undergrowth. Komodo hissed one last time and went into the airship. Zak's parents eyed him. "So... I'm guessing my grounding is extended?"


	6. Flute of Gilomesh

Zak Monday was running as fast as he could. He could still hear his pursuers behind him. He'd gone back to where he'd supposedly died for the mirror, only to find people from the Paris museum already there. So while they were not looking, he stole the broken mirror from their van. But that wasn't enough to stop them from seeing a shady-looking kid running out of the van.

"Hey kid, get back here!" one person yelled. "What's in your pack?"

If he were to turn around and say he stole something though, they would immediately send him off to reform school. "You think I'd let you know?" Zak M jumped over a log and continued on until he knew no one was following him. Then he pulled out the plastic bag the mirror was in and examined it. "Great, he broke it. Good thing those morons already picked up the piec es. Now all I have to do is figure out how to fix it, and I can go home."

"Greetings and bienvenue, young Monday." Argost stepped out of the shadows where Zak M was crouched over the mirror.

"Oh no, not you! And why does every one know my name?"

"Do you really want to go back to your realm?"

"Oh come on, I know you're really here for something. Last time, you wanted my powers." Zak M scoffed. "What do you want this time? The mirror? Well you can't have it!"

"Oh no, I'm not here for that." Argost cackled. "You brought along with you a little more than you thought. All I want is my flute back."

"So you can kill me again? No way are you getting... uh, this." Zak M picked up the bag and noticed the condition the flute was in. It was a crushed up piece of pottery at the bottom of the bag. "Why would you want that? It's beyond repair!"

"Oh, not that flute, I meant the other one, the one in your pack." Argost pointed out. "The one that's still in one piece."

"You can't have that either!" Zak M exclaimed. "That one was harder to get than that thing!" He pointed at the bag with the mirror and flute. "And it's not even yours!"

"Either way, you're handing over the flute."

"No way." Zak M tried to run away, but slammed into Munya.

"You don't have a choice." Argost laughed.

**About Six Months Later**

"Um, why are we doing this?" Zak asked his father as he sat in the _driver's_ seat on the airship.

"Soon you'll be fourteen, and that would be two years before you can legally drive." Doc explained. "Wait, why _are_ we doing this?"

"This is three years too early." Zak sighed. But then he remembered he was in the driver's seat. "Awesome!"

"Hey, don't touch that!" Doc yelled when Zak grabbed the steering wheel of the airship.

"That was your idea to let him drive the airship." Drew acknowledged. "Let him drive for a little bit. He does want to be treated more like his age."

"Okay, this makes it go forward..." Zak pushed a lever. The airship jerked forward. "And if I turn it like this, it goes right..." He turned the wheel left, and the airship tilted to the right.

"That's enough!" Doc exclaimed. "Stop, before you turn the airship upside-down."

"I can do that?"

"Ah ah! You are not flipping the airship over!" Drew proclaimed. The airship began to jerk forward slowly. "Where are you going?"

"I have no idea." Zak answered. "Hey, what's that?"

Something far below, on the ground, was sending a glare off. The curiosity of what it was made Zak land nearby. "Isn't that the smoke mirror?" Drew noted. Zak looked at it closely.

"Darn it, now I'm stuck in here, he took the flute, and I have to have your ugly face staring at me!" a voice shouted from inside the mirror.

"Yep, it's the smoke mirror." Zak sighed. "But didn't Argost break it?"

"He fixed it." Zak Monday's face appeared in the mirror. "He took my flute and put me back in this prison."

"Do you think I care about you being sealed in the mirror? What flute?"

"The Flute of Gilomesh. It can reverse any affect done by what you call the Flute of Gilgamesh." Zak Monday explained. "Now let me out!"

"Fine." Zak moaned, and picked up the mirror. Zak M came out and laughed. "What are you laughing about? If you're going to do something evil, you're going back in."

"Oh no, I'm angrier at him than at you. He's going to pay. But after he's gone, I'm going to come after you. Just you wait."

Then Zak M ran off, still laughing maniacally. "He laughs like you, Zak." Drew acknowledged.


	7. The Day of Sleep

This chapter was made on my birthday. Because even Kur didn't let up on his birthday.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the safest place for me to be during my grounding?" Zak sighed. He was in Kumari Kandam, just for his grounding.

"Yes, until Argost tracks you down." Ulraj acknowledged.

Zak let out a groan. "How do we even know he's looking? He hasn't come up to me yet."

Argost was looking though. He had gone to far lengths just to get what he had needed. How easy it was shocked him. In his shock, Zak Monday had dropped his bag, holding the flute. After that, Argost sent the mirror to be repaired as he looked all over the world for the fallen pieces of the Kur detector. No one cared about those, though.

"You do know that this is the exact same thing you tried last time, right?" Zak M called from inside the cage he was put in until the mirror was repaired. "They'll figure it out, and keep you from-" The anti was cut off when Argost held the repaired mirror up to him and got sucked in. Then Argost dropped it out the chute, without a care about it.

"Oh no, this won't be like the last time. This time, I will make sure no one lives."

"This is soooooo boring!" Zak moaned.

"That is what I meant those years ago." Ulraj pointed out. One of the servants around him offered him chocolates, which he refused.

"I mean just sitting here, waiting for Argost to just walk up and attack." Zak groaned when another servant came up to Ulraj to tell him about a meeting he had to attend. "I hear lower intelligence." All the servants stared at Zak. "My brain is shutting down."

At first they all ignored his attempts to entertain himself, until he began to snore. "Zak." Ulraj tried to wake him up, failing. "Zak!"

Zak began to snore really loudly. "Should we put him away in one of the chambers?" one of the guards asked.

"Please."

So Zak was snoring loudly, laying sprawled out on the floor. "That kid can sleep through anything, can't he?" one guard who brought him there said to the other.

"Well, he is Kur." the other guard answered. Zak snored even louder. "Maybe we should just leave him."

The two guards went back to their posts in front of Ulraj. That was when it happened. Argost burst through the doors, the guards who were assigned there fell to the ground. "Tell me where you are hiding Kur."

"I would rather have all of Kumari Kandam go down than let you have Kur's power."

"Then I guess that is what must happen." Argost grinned evilly.

The guards lunged at Argost, but a swarm of bugs came out from under his cape and attacked them. More guards came to subdue him, and met the same fate. Soon the only ones alive in the room were Ulraj and Argost. "Now tell me again where Kur is."

"I'd rather-" Ulraj started, but changed his mind. "Zak, what are you doing?"

Zak was still asleep in the chamber the guards had put him in. When Ulraj realized that Zak would not be coming until his brain rebooted, he grew nervous.

"I am tired of your silly antics, so I guess you are going to have to die. Unless you decide to actually tell me where he is instead of making weird excuses."

The whole city started to shake. That was when Ulraj realized why. The Saturdays had never really left. They were still above Kumari Kandam, waiting for Argost's warship to come, think there was no one there to protect it. That was thanks to Komodo's camouflage.

Even with having all of Kumari Kandam hit by a warship, Zak would not wake up. He just kept sleeping. "Looks like you're not getting Kur today." Ulraj laughed.

"You do know I can still kill you, though." Argost pointed out.

"Oh yeah." Ulraj frowned. Just as the yeti was about to strike him with one of the guards spears, Drew dropped in and kicked Argost.

"That's for all that misery you caused us!" she yelled.

Argost knew that if he stayed, even if he found Zak, that he would be killed by the vengeful Drew. "Munya! It's time to go!" A rope came down from the hole Drew had made getting in, which Argost grabbed. Drew pulled out the fire sword and tried to swing at him, but missed. Then she let out an angry groan.

"Where's Zak?" she asked, trying not to focus on the fact the creature that killed her parents got away.

Ulraj showed her to the chamber where Zak had slept away the whole thing. "Well I'm glad someone could sleep this over." Drew smiled. Hearing his mother's voice, Zak woke up.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Zak wondered.

"Well kiddo, you just slept through a visit from Argost without getting a scratch on you. Probably won't do that again."

"I did **what**?" Zak yelled.


	8. Fear Liath Mor

_Everything was foggy and blurry. Zak stood up where he'd fallen down. Then he called for his family. "Mom! Dad! Fisk? Anyone?" No one replied._

Even though his eyes were closed, Zak was controlling Komodo. He didn't even know it until the dragon jumped on top of him. "I'm up, I'm up!" Zak cried out.

"You already slept enough yesterday." Drew pointed out. "Now you're sleeping through Thanksgiving?"

"That's today?" Zak moaned. He pulled the cover over his head. "I don't want to go this year."

"But you've gone every other year. Last year, the year before that, when you were 10, and on to when you were 6 when you wet your pants and had to go back to the airship."

"Mom, I'm a teenager now. It seems _really_ childish to go this year." Zak complained. "And I got lost last year. I was **screaming** when you found me."

"Zak, if you're that worried about getting lost, we'll tie a rope to you. But you're still going."

Zak groaned for the one-hundred thirtieth time. "Why do we go to Ben MacDui every year? It gives me the creeps."

Then he heard some one screaming. That was when he realized that his mother was replaying the recording she took the year before, and that it was himself screaming his head off. They always brought a video camera along to record every moment. "Mooooom!" Zak whined.

It was another tradition that they played the recording from last Thanksgiving, but this was the most embarrassing. "We have to review it. Anyways, it's nothing to be ashamed of, even when you had no idea why you were screaming." Drew smiled. The recording went on to the part where Zak realized he was being recorded.

"Mom, turn that off!" the recorded Zak yelled.

"Oh, that was just pathetic, Miniman." Doyle walked up to Zak on the recording. Then it ended.

"Did we have to bring uncle Doyle that year?" Zak groaned.

"Of course, he missed out on the year before." Drew stated. "And because of what he did earlier, he's missing this year's as well."

Zak continued to gripe as he got out of the airship and started up the mountain. But soon he was too exhausted to complain any more. Half-way up, they stopped to rest. "Zak, don't wander off." Doc ordered as Zak was eating a turkey sandwich.

"Why do you think I'd wander off?" Zak wondered. That was when he noticed his mom talking to Fiskerton. "Wait, are you leaving me alone for once?"

"Leaving you alone _with_ Fiskerton." Doc corrected. "We're going back down the mountain."

"**What**? Why?" Zak stuttered.

"We know you're scared Zak, so we're leaving you here to settle your fears." Doc explained. "Also, you just ate your seventh sandwich without noticing it."

"I'm really exhausted, okay! I'm trying to get my energy up." Zak griped.

"Well, that means we have to get more food."

Once his parents were gone, Zak curled up into a ball. "Fisk, this is exactly why I'm scared of this place!" he confessed to the lemurian, which confused him.

_"Zak, we just ran out of food. We have to go gather some more. You'll be fine on your own, right?" Drew hoped. Zak nodded, thinking he could handle being alone._

_But then he wandered away from the camp his parents had set up. Soon, he was lost. He looked back, and all he saw was fog. No camp, nothing. Then he lost track of time. He kept glancing back, trying to find where his tracks were, and didn't see the creature. He didn't expect to run into it. either._

"I really don't remember anything about what happened that day except for the climb up the mountain and running into the 'Fear Liath Mor'. Or at least I think that was what it was." Zak read the cryptipedia. Fiskerton just seemed to be more confused. The lemurian didn't even seem to be looking at him. "Come on, what are you so interested in?" When he turned in the direction Fiskerton was looking, his blood went cold, and he fainted.

"Bad idea, I get it." Drew waved her hand in front of Zak as he regained consciousness.

"Fear Liath!" Zak screamed and sat up.

"That defiantly was not a good idea to leave you alone. Maybe we shouldn't come back next year for Thanksgiving." Drew decided.

"Great!" Zak exclaimed happily. "So where will we go?"

"We still have to go somewhere with cryptid activity." Drew pointed out. "How about somewhere warmer?"


	9. New Friends and Misunderstandings

This chapter is based mainly on a dream I had, with parts put in. Using references to _Amy Argost_, "Why To Hate Mondays".

* * *

8 Months Afterward

Fiskerton was messing with the eletric guitar Zak had received for his fourteenth birthday. Unfortunately, Zak had forgotten to turn down the volume on the amplifier enough for the sound not to echo through the airship. "Zak, are you messing with that thing again? I told Doyle—" Drew called.

"No Mom, I'm not." Zak sighed from where he was reading in the library. "I'm reading about the Ancient Mayans and Aztecs… **again**."

"Keep it that way." Drew frowned to herself.

"Rock out!" Fiskerton mumbled, and picked the strings on the guitar again.

"Would you stop that?" Doc shouted up at the lemurian. He went back to staring at a slide through the microscope. "I'm studying something very closely, and I need total concentration…" But Komodo walked up, hissed, and ate the slide. "Do you know how hard it was to get that sample? On to the next on." He slid another under the microscope, then murmured to himself, "interesting."

Zak sighed again and went back to his own studies. After the summer vacation, it was all studies until August. So he put his head back into the text book, and read on for hours. Then there was the tapping. It was getting _annoying_. He lifted his head, and realized what was tapping on the window. "Zon!" Zak exclaimed, getting away from the desk for once. He opened the window and let the ornithocheirus in. "What are you doing here, I thought you were with Doyle!" The dinosaur cawed happily and allowed him to pet her.

"Zak, get to bed. It's 9 pm, stop making those strange noises." Zak heard his mom shout. Zon made an angry clicking sound, trying to tell that it was not Zak making noises, but her.

"Mom, Zon's back!" Zak pouted. "And why are you thinking that I am making animal sounds?"

"What?" Drew walked into the library, and immediately stared at the pterosaur. Zon cawed angrily, and Zak's eyes began to glow orange.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Zak mumbled. The glow flickered for a second. "What? Can't understand you, what in the world are you saying?"

"Zak, what's going on?" Drew asked, but Zak was concentrating elsewhere.

"I can't understand you, you're talking too fast!" Zak muttered before passing out.

"Zak? Zak!" Drew shouted, but he never heard.

"Okay, this is crazy." Zak shuddered. The whole world was dark, the trees were branchless, but strangely, he could see.

"It's always crazy here." a purple squirrel climbed on his shoulder.

"What are you, anyway?" Zak wondered.

"A squirrel, of course." the squirrel frowned. "What kind of nitwit doesn't know that?"

"Yeah but… oh, never mind." Zak sighed. "Why am I here even?"

"Well, you have the same bio signature as our savior. He went missing a while ago." the squirrel explained. "The big snakes looked, but couldn't find him. We need him before **they** come. But instead, we found you. You should do, though."

"Who?" Zak cocked his head. "Wait, big snakes? The Nagas? Why would the Nagas be looking for someone to _save_ a world?"

"Just come!" the squirrel urged. He tried to pull Zak by his pant leg, but was, of course, unsuccessful.

"Not until you tell me the full story. Who is going to destroy the world?"

"Er…" the squirrel stuttered. Then he fiddled with something on his tail. "Come on, where's the other guy? This one asks questions!"

Zak, realizing that the squirrel wasn't completely trustworthy, bat it away with his foot. "I guess I have to find _another_ way to get home." Then he started to walk away, until he slammed into someone.

"Hey, watch it you—oh no, it's _you_." the person slapped their forehead. Zak realized that it was his anti again. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"Uh, a squirrel brought me here. What are _you_ doing here?"

"This is my backyard, idiot!" Zak M yelled. "Wait, did you just say squirrel?" He seemed to pale.

"And what's wrong with a squirrel bringing me here?" Zak matter-of-factly questioned.

"The Nagas and a talking squirrel are trying to force me to destroy the world!" Zak M panicked. "You've got to help me!"

"Whoa whoa whoa. The squirrel said he was trying to save the world from something." Zak stared at his anti, trying to figure out if he was lying or not.

"The squirrel's a liar! Please, you have got to help me!" Zak M pleaded. "That's what you good guys do!"

"That was your excuse for the last time, and that didn't turn out so well. But fine." Zak sighed. "Where are the Nagas?"

"Lady Inar, we have been looking for a very long time for Kur, but have not found him. We've worn done many our supplies." a Naga reminded a look-alike of Rani Nagi.

"Then we shall stop and renew them." she answered. "We cannot stop this search."

"What is with this?" Zak complained from inside the barrel he was crammed in next to his anti. "The Nagas have British accents, and they are actually _suggesting_ things! And agreeing!"

"Shh!" Zak M urged. The Nagas all turned to the barrel the two Zaks were in. Seeing nothing, they went back to what they were debating. "Ugh, I can't believe I'm jammed in a barrel with **you**! You're gonna get us caught!"

Suddenly the ship they were on rocked. The barrel the two were in began to slide to the left side of the ship. "We're under attack!" a Naga cried.

"Um, did you just…" Zak stared in the dark at his anti.

"Yes. Yes I did." Zak M winced.

The sound of footsteps slamming around the deck broke the conversation. "I am not staying in an enclosed space with you anymore!" Zak screamed, and broke open the barrel. People were pounding their feet all over the ship, but the Nagas all had their eyes pinned on Zak.

"It is Kur!" one Naga proclaimed.

"We are saved!" another added, and they all threw their weapons up.

"Oh, okay, you might not want to use this barrel anymore." Zak M lifted his head out of the barrel. When he saw all the Nagas celebrating and their weapons splash into the water, he put his head back in the barrel. "I'll just… stay in here and wallow in my… err…"

"I told you to do it before so you wouldn't do it in there!" Zak shouted. "Ugh!" He stepped out off the barrel.

"That's Kur?" one of the invaders laughed. "If that's all there is protecting this world, it might as well be like our side of this despicable planet— in the turmoil of the dark!"

"I need to change my pants even more now!" Zak M whined from inside the barrel.

"Kur is mightier than you shall ever know, scum." Inar snarled. "Just you watch as he brings all of you down."Then she leaned toward Zak and whispered, "You may use us as your weapons, all mighty Kur."

"I, err, um…" Zak sputtered, but knew if he told them that the Kur they were looking for was in the barrel behind him, wetting his pants, that it would simply get him to even more trouble. And either way, the Nagas did need someone to save them, one Kur or another. So Zak's eyes began to glow orange with all of the Nagas. The people who had invaded the ship all gasped in awe. They dropped their weapons and bowed on the ground.

"We're sorry!" they all cried in unison. Zak released the Nagas.

"We did not expect you to be so powerful." one stuttered.

"Please spare us!" another groveled.

"Do you expect the mighty Kur to do so after you attacked us?" Inar growled, poised to attack the invader.

"No no, it is fine, Inar. Just leave him." Zak ordered. The Naga queen's eyes flickered orange a couple times, and she backed away from the man.

"Coward." she hissed, even with that. Then she looked at Zak. "You are not Kur. Not our Kur, though. When Kur commands us, we are filled with rage. You fill us with calm though. You are a friend."

"Yeah, I'm not your Kur. Your Kur is over…" Zak pointed to the barrel Zak M was escaping from, pulling out the mirror. "… there."

"Haha, suckers! I'll never bring peace! Never!" Zak M yelled, and went through the mirror, which disappeared afterward.

"Yeah, um, do you know how to get me back to my world?" Zak asked Inar.

"Oh yes, my little squirrel friend can help." Inar whistled, and the purple squirrel appeared. He stared at Zak menacingly. "Come on, let him go, little friend. He will never bother again if you do." And with that statement, the squirrel pulled out a mirror from his tail, and it opened the same way the original mirror did. Zak waved to Inar just as he went through. "Goodbye, new friend. Hope to see you again.


	10. Invitation To Disaster

_Click! Click!_ Zak continued to press the button on the remote to change to a different channel. Fiskerton only got seconds to see what was on each channel, but with over 2,000 channels, there was many things to see. "Gah, there is nothing on!" Zak proclaimed, and threw the remote at the television, making the channel change once again. "Just reruns and shows I will never watch."

Fiskerton began to scold Zak about how there is plenty things to watch on television. That is, until he realized that Zak had dropped the remote. "TV!" Fiskerton growled, and took the remote from where it had fallen. He clicked it to the usual channel and sat back on the coach.

"Hey! Give that back!" Zak argued, trying to get it away from the lemurian. Then a commercial popped onto the screen with a hypnotic black-and-white swirl.

"Greetings and bienvenue." Argost's voice boomed from the high definition stereos.

"Oh great, another _Weird World_ commercial." Zak grumbled. "Fisk, would you change the channel now?" But the lemurian just sat there, with the remote still tightly held. "Fisk?"

Fiskerton began to mumble something, and Zak soon realized that the lemurian was actually _watching_ the commercial intently.

"Fi—?"

"Argost lives!" Fiskerton suddenly shouted, his arms flying up in the air.

"The **same** commercial? Ugh, when will Argost decide to use some of his large amount of money to make a commercial that does not try to make all its viewers say 'Argost lives?'" Zak complained.

"Argost lives!" Fiskerton echoed, repeating the same thing as the first time.

"So far, it's only worked on cat and monkeys." Zak said aloud, and realized what he had just said. "Oh, so that's the point of airing that commercial over and over." So he clicked off the TV. "There. Yo Fisk, what do you think now?"

"Argost lives!" Fiskerton exclaimed, raising his arms in the air. Zak fell over in shock.

"I'm going to go bother Mom and Dad about this. You won't go anywhere, will you?"

"Argost lives!"

"Yeah, I know that." Zak muttered, walking out of the television room.

"Hey sweetie, what are you doing out here? You normally sleep in or watch television on Sundays." Drew noted.

"TV's the problem. Argost has been airing a commercial to hypnotize Fisk into yelling Argost lives." Zak explained.

"Argost lives!" Fiskerton repeated, loud enough for it to be heard over to the kitchen.

"Well, I don't exactly see the point of that." Drew cocked her head. "It'll wear off eventually. Just watch him and make sure it doesn't worsen to being 'Argost rules.'"

"I guess." Zak sighed. "But I feel like something very bad is going to happen now."

"Call me if you need any help." Drew advised him.

"Argost lives!"

"Yes, I know Fisk." Zak breathed. It was already 4pm. "Will you just stop saying that so I can go have lunch?"

"Argost…" Fiskerton began.

"Ugh, I shouldn't have wasted my breath saying that."

"Greetings and bienvenue, young-." Argost, who had gotten in through the window, announced his presence, but was cut off by Zak.

"Oh shut it. You already made my life horrible by **that**." Zak pointed to Fiskerton.

"Oh yes. A clever idea, hmm?" Argost intrigued.

"Yeah, clever to annoy me." Zak sighed. He fumbled around his belt for the Claw. "What do you want with me **now**?"

"To invite you to the end." Argost laughed, and handed Zak an invitation. "You should obviously recognize that date."

"Argost lives!" Fiskerton proclaimed.

"How obnoxious. Good thing I am not you." Argost scowled, and jumped through the open window.

"Zak, Zak!" Drew shouted, bursting through the door. "I thought I just heard Argost in here!"

"You did." Zak answered, his voice full of mixed emotions.

"Zak, honey, what is that in your hand?" Drew wondered.

"Argost lives!" Fiskerton yelled for the last time.

"Yep. Definitely obnoxious." Zak sighed. Then he looked back to the invitation. "This? This is an invite to Argost's mansion in 6 months."

Yes, **exactly** six months. December 21, 2012. 1: Mayan end of the world. 2: Amy Argost's Birthday.


	11. Desert Life

"Of all the places we could be going, why did we have to go here first?" Zak grumbled, his arms crossed in the back of the DRV.

"But Zak, I thought you liked the Middle East." Drew teased.

"I never said that!" Zak snapped. Komodo, who had been sticking his head out the open window as always, put his head back in and hissed at Zak. "What? I don't like the heat."

"Are you sure that's it?" Drew laughed.

"Yes, I'm sure that's it!" Zak blushed. He put his feet on the seat he was sitting on.

Fiskerton, seeing that Zak was being ill-mannered over the fact Drew was teasing him over what happened on his birthday, scowled at Zak.

"Oh, not you too, Fisk! I've told you, it's not like that!"  
The DRV came to a sudden halt, causing Zak to jerk forward in his seat. "Why's that?" Fiskerton mumbled next to him in surprise.

"Hello there, Mrs. Saturday, Zak, Fiskerton." Wadi popped up in front of the windshield. When Zak realized his mom had just stopped because Wadi was in the road, he began to scramble to get his seatbelt off.

"Drive!" Zak urged, finding it too much a struggle to get off his seatbelt. "Drive!"

"Zak, what are you doing?" Wadi wondered, watching as he began to try to start the car, but instead honking the horn.

"I think it's puberty or something this time." Drew grinned.

"No, no it's not!" Zak continued to struggle to get his seatbelt off. "Come on, can we just go?"

"Why are you here, anyways?" Wadi asked.

"You know why! My mom called your dad to tell him that we're coming over here… to…" Zak stopped yelling at Wadi when he noticed that everyone was staring directly at him. Fiskerton began to laugh at Zak. "Oh, shut it."

"This is about Argost inviting you over to his mansion for the anniversary?" Wadi cocked her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't go."

"Why not?"

"Why would I want to celebrate **that**? The Mayans even say that that is the end of human life on the planet. I do not want to go." Wadi shook her head. "That is not where I want to die."

"Oh come on, you can't believe what ancient Native Americans said about the world!" Zak complained. "I mean, they might have been advanced, but science today says that it will happen millions of years from now, not this year."

"He got this from his dad, I swear." Drew sighed. "Wadi, get in. You're going back to Maboul, right?"

"Good thing Komodo is too big to sit on Fisk!" Zak announced. "Because I am not sitting next to her!"

Komodo hissed over at Wadi. "I swear it wants to eat me!" she proclaimed.

"Komodo!" Drew scolded, but the giant lizard just hissed again and went back to sticking his head out the window.

"Wish he would." Zak muttered under his breath, thinking no one heard. But they did.

"_Zak!_"

"Thank you for bringing Wadi back." Maboul was talking with Drew while Zak and Fiskerton had to sit at a bench with Wadi. "I was afraid she might have gotten kidnapped."

Fiskerton began to mumble gibberish completely out of boredom. "Ugh, let's just play _I spy_." Zak groaned.

"Butterfly!" Fiskerton suddenly pointed at a butterfly that was going by. It flipped over and fell down from the heat.

"Okay, we'll just sit here, then." Zak moaned. After several minutes, he began to hear a flicking sound. When he looked around, he realized that it was Wadi playing with her yoyo. "Ugh, you got that thing fixed?"

"Yes." Wadi flicked the toy a couple times before Zak decided to undo the knot that was on it.

Fiskerton began to mumble something for _I spy_.

"It's… sand." Zak sighed.

"Yeah." Fiskerton mumbled and put his head on the bench. "Boring…"

Zak could see Fiskerton's eyes wander back to the butterfly carcass. Wadi had retied her yoyo and began to flick it back and forth once again. "Stop… that." Zak mumbled. He stared at the butterfly.

"Okay Zak, time to go now." Drew walked up to the children. Seeing they were not paying attention, she looked down to see what they **were** paying attention to.

"'I spy…'" Fiskerton mumbled.

"The… dead… butterfl… y…" Zak muttered.

"Zak, it's time to go." Drew repeated. "Now stop talking slowly and staring at that butterfly."

"So… bored…"


	12. 2012

"Zak, come on." Drew urged through the dark.

"I-I don't feel good right now." Zak replied, his hands on his head.

"And this happened just on the day we're coming to Argost's little anniversary party?" Doc acknowledged. "That you suddenly feel sick?"

"No, I didn't say I felt sick… Something just doesn't feel right."

"Of course it doesn't feel right." Zak heard his mom correct. "Normally you're sleeping by now."

"It's still not that." Zak muttered, and suddenly the orange glow cut through the darkness.

"Zak, what are you doing?" Doc wondered. The glow blinked out.

"Uh, what?" Zak shook his head, recovering. Nearby, Komodo growled, and launched himself at something.

"When will you stop trying that?" the familiar voice of Ulraj sighed.

"Good to hear you came."

"Though I still have to go back to my kingdom to rebuild after the recent events between you and Argost, it just gives me a reason to go after Argost for it all." Ulraj pointed out. Komodo hissed, likely angry from having failed to get the king's kelp. "Haven't I suffered enough?"

"Where's Doyle? Wasn't he supposed to come too?" Zak asked his mom.

"I thought he was…" Drew mumbled, clearly disappointed that her brother would not come for such an important event.

"What about…" Fiskerton mumbled, reminding everyone of another missing from the plan.

"Well, we'll just have to go on without them." Doc answered.

"You know, I'm glad she hasn't come." Zak voiced his opinion.

"Zak!" both of his parents exclaimed.

"Actually, I am too." Ulraj added, holding off Komodo. Fiskerton scolded the king. "Come on, I'm holding off a giant lizard! Isn't that enough?"

"No."

"Oh, my head feels weird." Zak thought, and the orange glow returned to his eyes. Cryptids began to call out all around.

"Zak? Zak!" Drew shouted. He snapped back with a startled cry. The cryptids fell silent. Then Argost stepped into the moonlit clearing in front of them.

"Greetings and bienvenue, Saturdays, king, Kur." Argost laughed. "How do you like my newest set up?"

"Set up?" Drew echoed, and began to feel anger, remembering again that this was the creature that had murdered her parents. Separated her from her brother. Had her watch another person die.

"Yes, I decided to have some artifacts from the Mesoamerican civilizations placed around my abode." Argost gestured toward the left and then the right, hidden insects lit up to reveal all sorts of cryptic artifacts.

Flashes of light seemed to blink in Zak's head. The orange glow returned to his eyes, and the lights became visions. They began to hurt, and he fell to his knees.

"Zak, Zak, stay with us!" He heard his mom say, but it sounded too distant. Soon the visions stopped blinking, and assimilated with the world.

_A giant dragon with glowing orange eyes sat in the middle of a village. The people living in the village were doing all sorts of things. People who thought they were mighty warriors ran toward it with black stone tipped spears, only to have cryptids jump on them. Screams filled the air, not just from the warriors being devoured, but the other people._

_Some of the innocent villagers were screaming and running for their lives from the vicious cryptids. Most of them were able to get away, but the ones who were willing to turn around and look met the same fate as those who chose to fight._

_People who fancied their selves as wise were carving the story out in stone, only to have it destroyed when the creatures pounced. After awhile, the ones still alive decided to run as well, not willing to meet the same fate as their fellow scholars before writing about the fate of the village. Soon the place was clear, except for the creatures that cleared it._

"_Today, just a few simple villages, tomorrow, it will be all of this cursed world." the dragon was laughing. Then more laughter joined in._

The pain and the surge of mystic energy were all too much, and Zak began screaming.

"Zak, please, calm down!" Drew exclaimed. All around the cryptids were calling out. In the light their eyes were glowing. The sound of their steps began to come closer and closer. "Please, Zak, just stop!"

"I can't! My powers…" Zak murmured, losing the power to stop anything. Or was it something else?

All sorts of cryptids emerged from the dark. Zak felt a familiarity in it all. A grin spread upon Argost's face.

"Kur… the cryptids…!"

"Zak, make them go away!" Doc shouted over the growls and roars and squawks of the creatures.

"No!" Zak shook his head, not sure if he was saying it to the cryptids or his dad.

"Now we see the might of Kur!" Argost cackled evilly. It enraged Zak.

"Yeah, for the last time!" Zak shouted, mentally ordering the cryptids to come even closer. He didn't even notice his family anymore.

"Zak, you can't do this!" Ulraj ordered. But Zak did not remember him.

"We're your family!" Drew screamed as the creatures were closing in. It was too late. Zak couldn't stop it.

"You know, I've stopped caring." Zak replied, but at the same time, it wasn't him. The cryptids were finally upon all that he had known as family. He snapped back when he heard the bloodcurdling screams. He ordered the cryptids to stop, but it was too late. There was nothing left to save. He was alone.

"Kur…" something whispered behind him, and he whipped around.

It was Rani Nagi. "What do you want?"

"This is merely the true nature of Kur. Do not be sad for them, they will not be alone for long." Rani Nagi hissed. "There will be many more to join them soon."

"Shut up, that's not what I want!" Zak yelled, and his powers surged again, cryptids returning. The Naga nodded, bowed to her master, and slivered away. Then he released his grip and fell to his knees, crying. He'd lost everything. Mom, dad, Ulraj. Not much a care for Argost. Something dug at the back of his head. He hadn't lost everything…

"Zak? Why are you on the ground?" he heard someone say. He jerked up, and saw that it was Wadi, confused at what had happened. She looked around, at the ground and at Zak. "Where are your parents? I hope you didn't…"

Suddenly Komodo ran up and hissed at Wadi. She backed away, and Fiskerton walked up, muttering with his hand closed around something.

"You went off because you saw a bird and wanted to catch it?" Zak was first angry, but then relaxed. Fiskerton let go of the bird, which flew away. "I'm glad you weren't here." Then Zak collapsed.

"_I know what you did, Zak." Wadi scowled later in the evening. "I'll tell everyone you killed your parents unless you'll be my boyfriend."_

_He sighed. "Fine." Then he opened the door to where a smiling Doyle was sitting with Fiskerton, Komodo, and Zon._

"_Hey Mini Man, do you know where your mom is?"_

_Doyle's smile would soon fade._


	13. Remorse

_I've always just tried to be the good guy; even on the day I figured out I'm Kur._

Shutters whipped down the windows. Children were playing with a ball when their parents ran out and pulled them back inside. Zak felt sad about how so many people were purposely avoiding him.

_But then I started to do bad things. Now it's too late to make up for that._

"_Apologies won't make your mother come back to life Min— Zak." _For the first time, he'd seen his uncle cry. For the first time, things got serious.

Fearful people peered out through the windows with their accusing eyes. They knew, they saw the cryptids running. They heard the faraway screams. But they were too afraid to do anything about it.

_It may not directly be my fault, but I still ordered them to… to kill. That makes me the monster._

Rain started to come down. The children who had not yet been brought inside ran to their houses, laughing. Zak did not have such comforts anymore. So he just stood there, in the rain, looking back at how far down he had went from when he was just an 11 year old boy with.

_I just wish everything was like before! But I can't do that. I can only destroy lives. I destroy lives because that is Kur. That is me._


End file.
